MLO–UORA and Traffic-to-Link Joint Optimization for IEEE 802.11bn Networks

Abstract

Achieving efficient uplink access and a robust performance in dense Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) is a critical challenge for IEEE 802.11bn (Wi-Fi 8). While uplink orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA)-based random access (UORA) enables scalable random access, its performance is highly sensitive to contention and resource allocation, especially in multi-link operation (MLO) environments. In this letter, a MLO-UORA and traffic-to-link joint optimization (MUTO) scheme is proposed to jointly optimize the traffic allocation and UORA parameters of each link. The performance evaluation shows that the MUTO scheme achieves a higher throughput as well as lower collision probability and average access delay compared to existing schemes.